New Hampshire, in the northeast area called New England, is

the Granite State

because of that colorful rock.

New Jersey is between the big cities of New York, New York and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It got its nickname,

the Garden State,

because New Jersey truck farms once provided vegetables to those big cities.

New York, which always thinks big, was called

the Empire State

because of its natural wealth. The most famous Manhattan skyscraper got its name from the state. It is, of course, the Empire State Building.

If you get a chance to see a red sunset over the Sangre de Cristo Mountains of New Mexico, you will know why that southwestern state is called

the Land of Enchantment.

North and South Carolina were one colony until seventeen twenty-nine. South Carolina's nickname is the easier of the two: It is

the Palmetto State

because of a fan-leafed palm tree that grows there. North Carolina is the

Tar Heel State.

That is because many of the men who worked to gather substances from trees wore no shoes. They would make turpentine from tar and get the black, sticky tar on the heels of their feet.

Next week, we will finish telling about the colorful nicknames of American states.

(MUSIC)

This VOA Special English program was written by Ted Landphair. I'm Barbara Klein. You can find more WORDS AND THEIR STORIES at voaspecialenglish.com.